The World Bank Group works with countries in Europe and Central Asia to help improve people's lives and achieve shared prosperity in a variety of ways, including through financial lending and analytical and advisory services. Our work aims to help countries achieve better competitiveness, more inclusive growth, and to adapt to climate change and improve energy efficiency.
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The program development objectives
(PDOs) of the First Programmatic State Owned Enterprises
(SOEs) Reform Development Policy Loan (DPL) Program Project
for Serbia are... Show More + to reduce state participation and level of
direct and indirect support to the real sector, enhance SOE
performance, governance and accountability, and mitigate the
short term social and labor impacts of the SOEs
restructuring and disposition plans. It is the first in a
series of two programmatic DPLs designed to support Republic
of Serbia reform program of the SOE sector. This series of
development policy operations supports the government's
economic program and focuses on the structural reforms
related to the SOEs sector. This operation supports a number
of specific measures in the following three pillars: (i)
completion of restructuring and divestiture program to
reduce the direct and indirect state support to companies in
the privatization agency portfolio and SOEs operating in the
commercial sector; (ii) strengthening governance regulatory
framework, institutional arrangements, and monitoring and
transparency arrangements for improved performance and
accountability of state owned enterprises; and (iii)
mitigating the social and labor market impact of the reform program. Show Less -

The paper investigates determinants of
civic participation in local budget processes in rural areas
in the Kyrgyz Republic by using data from the Life in
Kyrgyzstan... Show More + survey, conducted in 2012. The analysis of the
data suggests that although civic awareness and interest in
local budget processes is relatively high, the participation
rate in local budgeting processes is low. The paper also
shows that interest, awareness, and participation are
positively associated with the age, education, employment,
risk-taking attitudes, trust, and social capital of
respondents. The paper documents that unawareness and lack
of participation are largely related to being female, of
non-Kyrgyz ethnic origin, inactive in the labor market,
recent internal migrants, and residents of communities with
poor infrastructure. Show Less -

The community of development partners in
the Republic of Moldova would be honored to engage in the
development policy dialogue with the new Government. This
briefing... Show More + book from development partners is offered as a
first step in such a dialogue and is solely intended to
assist the new Government by providing development partners
views and proposals that it can use to the extent it
considers useful and relevant. These recommendations are
based on Moldovas existing policy orientations as set out
in the National Development Strategy Moldova 2020, its
international obligations, and the Association Agreement
(AA) with the European Union (EU). Moldova made a formal
commitment to accelerate the countrys development by making
it capital-intensive, sustainable and knowledge-driven. With
a strategic framework outlining Moldovas development path
in place, it is now critical to accelerate implementation of
the reforms including those set out in the Association
Agenda to move closer to the EU. Moldova faces significant
risks in the financial sector, which should be addressed as
a matter of urgency. A well-regulated and reliable banking
sector is fundamental to business, people and international
investors. At the same time a robust system of public
financial management should be in place to ensure
transparency and accountability of public finances. Moldova
should develop a competitive business environment attractive
to new investment. Moldova should also take advantage of new
trading opportunities through effective implementation of
the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA). Show Less -

This white paper has been prepared by
World Banks Transport and Information and Communication
Technologies (ICT) Global Practice at the request of the
MIOA . Delivery... Show More + of the White Paper is part of a wider
package of technical assistance by the World Bank to the
Government of FYR Macedonia. The paper starts off by giving
an overview of the state of telecom development in rural FYR
Macedonia from the standpoint of affordability and
availability of the commercial broadband Internet access
services for the less advantaged groups of the population.
The next section describes the Wi-Fi Kiosk Project outlining
its scope, aim, and implementation process while bringing
forward publics experiences with respect to the Wi-Fi kiosk
use. This section also examines technical parameters related
to the Internet usage and demonstrates the problematic of
the kiosk maintenance in the remote and rural areas. Section
five references specific policy and regulatory measures
designed by different government stakeholders with a goal to
analyse the approach which has been chosen to ensure
availability of the fixed and (or) mobile broadband Internet
in the rural areas of the country. The white paper concludes
with a set of observations and recommendations aiming to
address the sustainability of the results achieved by the
Wi-Fi Kiosk Project and to offer next steps to increase
rural connectivity in FYR Macedonia. Show Less -

This paper presents new indicators for
185 economies measuring the accessibility of business
regulatory information. The paper shows that the new data
can serve as meaningful... Show More + proxies for the overall transparency
of governments and the new data have explanatory power for
the quality of business regulation. The paper finds the
regulatory environment to be most opaque in Sub-Saharan
Africa and the Middle East and North Africa, where
businesses can often only access basic regulatory
information by meeting a government official. By contrast,
in countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation
and Development and Eastern Europe and Central Asia, access
is more direct via websites, public billboards, and
brochures. Moreover, Organisation for Economic Co-operation
and Development economies are more consistent in their
transparency efforts across government agencies. The paper
also finds that while resources as proxied by income levels
play some role in explaining why some economies make more
information easily accessible than others, those resources
are not the only determining factor; regardless of income,
more democratic governments tend to make greater
transparency efforts. Finally, easier access to basic
regulatory information is associated with greater regulatory
quality and less corruption. Show Less -

Turkey's experience in the
transition from lower to higher middle income country is the
subject of this book, an account of how the nation rose from
a virtually closed... Show More + economy in 1980 to its current position
as an economy on the threshold of achieving high income
status. Turkey's unique historical and geographic
position between Europe and the Middle East has drawn itself
much attention from critics. Apart from the Gulf States, it
is the wealthiest of the countries that emerged from the
Ottoman Empire. Along with Malaysia it is the first country
with a Muslim majority that is on the cusp of achieving high
income status without relying on crude oil. Always having
been a country of strategic significance, it has been
holding free and fair elections since 1950, and is a
candidate for accession to the European Union (EU). The book
is addressed to policy makers both from other emerging
markets and from Turkey itself. While the focus is squarely
on Turkey, throughout the report, its performance is
benchmarked against the remerging market peers. Three main
features of Turkey's story stand out. Firstly, the
shift of employment out of agriculture and into industry and
services has brought increases in productivity and rising
income. Trade liberalization in the 1980s, followed by the
Customs Union agreement with the EU in 1995, provided the
price signals and competitive incentives for the
modernization of Turkey'ss industry. Rapid urbanization
created an attractive production base for investors and an
economically efficient system of cities emerged. Secondly,
Turkey's rising prosperity has been shared, and
inequalities in access to basic public services have been
greatly reduced. While Turkey remains a country of unequal
opportunities, the past decade has brought unprecedented
improvements in income, healthcare, education, housing, and
basic municipal services to its poor. It has also seen the
size of its middle class more than double from 1993.
Thirdly, Turkey's transformation has been predominantly
private sector led and sustained by a political consensus in
favor of market-based solutions. The rise of a new
generation of entrepreneurs from Turkey's inland
provinces and the growth of an urban middle class have
created a political constituency for conservative social and
liberal economic policies. Turkey's achievements are
substantial; its average real income has risen fivefold
since the 1950s. Decade by decade, its real GDP has grown.
Nonetheless, Turkey has yet to establish the institutional
prerequisites of a high income economy. The reform momentum
has slowed since the global economic and financial crisis,
and the EU reform anchor has notably weakened. The World
Bank projects that it is likely to graduate to high income
status over the coming decade, based on previous average
growth rates. Turkey's experience offers lessons to the
world that are worth observing. Show Less -

Turkey's experience in the
transition from lower to higher middle income country is the
subject of this book, an account of how the nation rose from
a virtually closed... Show More + economy in 1980 to its current position
as an economy on the threshold of achieving high income
status. Turkey's unique historical and geographic
position between Europe and the Middle East has drawn itself
much attention from critics. Apart from the Gulf States, it
is the wealthiest of the countries that emerged from the
Ottoman Empire. Along with Malaysia it is the first country
with a Muslim majority that is on the cusp of achieving high
income status without relying on crude oil. Always having
been a country of strategic significance, it has been
holding free and fair elections since 1950, and is a
candidate for accession to the European Union (EU). The book
is addressed to policy makers both from other emerging
markets and from Turkey itself. While the focus is squarely
on Turkey, throughout the report, its performance is
benchmarked against the remerging market peers. Three main
features of Turkey's story stand out. Firstly, the
shift of employment out of agriculture and into industry and
services has brought increases in productivity and rising
income. Trade liberalization in the 1980s, followed by the
Customs Union agreement with the EU in 1995, provided the
price signals and competitive incentives for the
modernization of Turkey'ss industry. Rapid urbanization
created an attractive production base for investors and an
economically efficient system of cities emerged. Secondly,
Turkey's rising prosperity has been shared, and
inequalities in access to basic public services have been
greatly reduced. While Turkey remains a country of unequal
opportunities, the past decade has brought unprecedented
improvements in income, healthcare, education, housing, and
basic municipal services to its poor. It has also seen the
size of its middle class more than double from 1993.
Thirdly, Turkey's transformation has been predominantly
private sector led and sustained by a political consensus in
favor of market-based solutions. The rise of a new
generation of entrepreneurs from Turkey's inland
provinces and the growth of an urban middle class have
created a political constituency for conservative social and
liberal economic policies. Turkey's achievements are
substantial; its average real income has risen fivefold
since the 1950s. Decade by decade, its real GDP has grown.
Nonetheless, Turkey has yet to establish the institutional
prerequisites of a high income economy. The reform momentum
has slowed since the global economic and financial crisis,
and the EU reform anchor has notably weakened. The World
Bank projects that it is likely to graduate to high income
status over the coming decade, based on previous average
growth rates. Turkey's experience offers lessons to the
world that are worth observing. Show Less -

The paper uses the latest 2011 round of
the Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Survey
for the Russian Federation, which for the first time was
designed... Show More + to be representative of Russian regions. The paper
takes a closer look at regional-level factors influencing
the business environment in Russia and, more specifically,
conditions that favor the emergence of symbiotic relations
between regional authorities and regional businesses.
Considering the argued significance of informal rules,
norms, and agreements for the regional-level business
environment in Russia, the paper uses proxy variables such
as tenure and origin of regional governors to identify how
these rules are being institutionalized. The findings reveal
that, at least in case of Russia, juxtaposing the state and
business actors as separate and opposed to each other may
overstate the distinction between these two groups of actors
and understate the fact that many localities in Russia have
witnessed the emergence of mutually beneficial
state-business arrangements. Defining whether these
arrangements are beneficial or harmful to regional
development is beyond the scope of this exploratory paper. Show Less -

The governance partnership facility
(GPF) supported program mainstreaming governance in
Tajikistan portfolio (FY2010-14) was a landmark achievement
in applying governance... Show More + analysis and looking for entry points
to improve transparency and accountability in key sectors in
Tajikistan. This brief provides recommendations from its
energy-efficiency audit, the extractive industries sector,
and public procurement authority pilot program. In the long
run, the government's goal is to use procurement
performance measurement framework (PPMF) generated
procurement performance assessments and annual procurement
performance reports (APPRs) as feedback that inform policy
design. If the reform momentum can be sustained, Tajikistan
has a potential to gradually converge to good practices in
public procurement and improve its good governance ratings
over time. Show Less -

This report is aimed at describing the
final results and impact of the communicating extractive
industries transparency initiative (EITI) in Kazakhstan.
There was a... Show More + desk research carried out within first two weeks
of the project. This research included analyzing experience
of Kazakhstan organizations in developing a communicating
strategy on EITI. In this context, this report presents
following three tasks: task one, preparing a communications
strategy that targets general public; task two, developing
communications materials, as outlined in the communications
strategy; and task three, conducting EITI communication and
outreach activities. Show Less -

This policy note is part of the World
Bank's Programmatic Public Expenditure Review (PER)
work program for FY2012-2014. The PER consists of a series
of fiscal policy... Show More + notes, which aim at providing the
Government of Tajikistan with recommendations to strengthen
budgetary processes and analysis. This policy note, the
fifth in the series continues the fiscal policy dialogue
conducted in the previous notes. It is structured as
follows. Chapter 2 reviews the role of state-owned
enterprises (SOE) in Tajikistan's economy and
identifies key issues. Chapter 3 assesses the fiscal risks
posed by SOEs, especially those in the energy sector.
Chapter 4 puts forth possible solutions. Chapter 5
summarizes the main conclusions of this note: 1) despite
privatizations and attempts at restructuring, Tajikistan
still has a large, inefficient, and heavily indebted public
sector; 2) the lack of comprehensive information about the
sector undermines budget credibility and budget integrity;
3) multiple but uncoordinated functions, responsibilities,
and accountability lines limit government ability to form a
comprehensive view of the SOE sector, define a consistent
strategy, and effect transparency, performance, reporting,
and oversight; 4) elaborate QFAs of SOEs and other public
institutions create substantial fiscal risks and undermine
the hard-earned benefits of fiscal consolidation; 5)
liabilities, explicit and implicit, created by SOE
operations are large and must be accounted for and properly
delineated; 6) solutions proposed to address the major
issues are phasing out QFAs, optimizing the size and scope
of the SOE sector, and improving SOE management; and 7) SOE
reform should be an integral part of the general reform agenda. Show Less -

The development objective of the Second
Development Policy Operation Project for Kyrgyz Republic is
to promote sustainable growth through more accountable use
of public... Show More + resources and an improved environment for doing
business. This program document describes the second
development policy operation in a programmatic series of two
operations, which aims to address Kyrgyz Republic's key
development policy challenges. The operation supports the
efforts of the Kyrgyz authorities to improve public sector
governance and enhance the business environment. The program
is anchored in the 2013-17 national sustainable development
strategy (NSDS) which aims to lay foundations for faster,
more sustainable growth, more and better jobs, and reduced
poverty. The overall framework of this operation is aligned
with the goals of reducing poverty and boosting shared
prosperity. The policies supported by this operation are
expected to promote economic growth and its sustainability. Show Less -

The development objectives of the First
Development Policy Loan (DPL1) Project for Ukraine are to:
(i) promote good governance, transparency, and
accountability in the... Show More + public sector (pillar A); (ii)
strengthen the regulatory framework and reduce costs of
doing business (pillar B); and (iii) reform inefficient and
inequitable utility subsidies while protecting the poor
(pillar C). The DPL1 supports high-priority reform measures
to address key structural roots of the current economic
crisis in Ukraine and to lay the foundation for inclusive
and sustainable growth. The operation is an integral part of
a package of coordinated financial assistance from
international partners to help Ukraine address urgent
macroeconomic challenges, while embarking on medium-term
structural reforms. The programmatic DPL series is aligned
with strategic directions set out in the country partnership
strategy (FY2012-16) and builds on long-standing policy
dialogue with the authorities. To enhance shared prosperity
and protect gains made in reducing poverty, this DPL series
focusses on reforms that support a balanced distribution of
the social burden resulting from the necessary economic
adjustment. To achieve a more balanced social burden
sharing, the DPL program includes reforms aimed at reducing
leakage including decisive steps to curb widespread
high-level corruption and closing loopholes for tax
avoidance and evasion. In addition, the DPL series supports
the government in undertaking steps to strengthen social
safety nets to cushion the impact of reforms on the poor and vulnerable. Show Less -

The fiscal system in Bosnia and
Herzegovina (BiH) is highly decentralized, reflecting the
provisions of the countrys constitution. The general
government sector consists... Show More + of four relatively autonomous
units: BiH Institutions, Brcko District (DB), and two
Entities, Federation Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) and
Republican Srpska (RS). BiH Institutions are at the central
government level (governed by the BiH Council of Ministers);
and each Entity has its own government, extra-budgetary
funds (EBFs), and local self-governance units. The structure
in FBiH has 10 cantons that serve as a middle level of
government between the government of FBiH and local
self-governance units, and each canton has its own
government and some EBFs. Cantons were not covered by this
Report, but could be covered later as a sub-national PEFA
assessment. A Fiscal Council was created in 2008, with the
objective to coordinate fiscal policies for the sake of
common interest of BH Institutions, Entities and Brcko
District. For the most important role of fiscal
coordination, preparing the Global Framework of the Fiscal
Balance and Policy, in practice the Fiscal Council decides
on revenues from indirect taxation and the budget of BiH
Institutions, thereby creating preconditions for budget
planning at lower level of governments, which are
responsible for over 90 percent of public expenditures.
Given that key government functions (social policy,
subsidies, education, etc), are performed at sub-national
level, timely decision making on BiH Institutions revenues
from indirect taxes is important in enabling timely
implementation of their respective budgets. Show Less -